The Great Britain SailGP Team finished 2nd overall after day one of racing at the Sail Grand Prix Singapore. Extremely light winds made for a day of needing to keep calm and have eyes out of the boat, in the search for breeze to maintain the highest boat speed possible.
The start of racing was delayed for half an hour by the race committee to allow for the breeze to build, some did arrive but not enough to enable the F50’s to foil even with the skyscraper-like 29M Wings in play. Racing finally got underway and GBR bounced back from a bad start to climb the fleet and take a 5th place finish in race one. In the second and final race of the day after a tight start GBR made a great call to gybe early at mark one, which led to four-place climb and third place finish.
Reacting to the day’s racing, Great Britain SailGP Team CEO Ben Ainslie said: “The first race was a tough one with extremely light winds of 6-9 KM/H, which made it harder to push through the fleet at the start, but we did manage to find a gap and improve our result, which in these light and tight conditions is difficult to do.
“I’m pleased to see us having more consistency in maintaining speed especially in those tricker downward legs. I’m proud of the team today and especially Hannah Mills as this was her first-time racing since having her baby at the end of last year, she made key calls which enabled us to finish third in the last race. Let’s hope for more breeze tomorrow.”
Hannah Mills was back with the team racing for the first time since having her baby daughter Sienna last October, and it was a return to remember as she stepped into the powerhouse Grinder position with teams having to drop down to four-crew due to these lighter conditioners.
When asked about her first race back, Hannah Mills added: “It felt incredible! Even though it was light winds, and we weren’t foiling, it was amazing to be back racing. With it being such a short racecourse, the starts are really important to having a good overall chance of getting in the top three.
“I’ve been taking it one step at a time here in Singapore to not push myself too far too soon, but it felt really good being back out on the F50 with the team and we’re pleased with how day one went as the conditions were tough out there. Here’s hoping for some more wind tomorrow so we can hopefully get up on the foils!”
British fans can catch The Great Britain SailGP Team back in action for the final day of racing at 6AM live here on Sky Sports or free on SailGP's YouTube channel where they hope to have another strong day of racing.
